Nicola L. Hein (*1988 in Düsseldorf) is a sound artist, guitarist, composer and scholar, working in the field of music aesthetics and cybernetics. He is a professor of Digital Creation at the Music University of Lübeck, Germany.

His work is driven by the interaction of sound and space, light, movement, thought and the becoming of embodied and intermedial intelligence in aesthetic systems, community and technology.

In his artistic work he uses physical and electronic extension of the electric guitar, sound installations, cybernetic human-machine interaction with A.I. interactive music systems, Augmented Reality, telematic real-time art, ambisonic sound projection, instrument building, conceptual compositions, inter-media works (w/video art, light, dance, literature) and much more.

In his work as a sound artist he builds installations, sculptures, instruments, researches the interaction of sound, material and space, works with field recordings, programs (intelligent) software systems, creates a multitude of intermedial works, engages in network technologies and artistically develops dances of agency between the human, nature and technology.

He explores the possibilities of the electric guitar as a modular becoming of technology and sound. In this process the guitar is played with objects, extended techniques, stratified by the use of analog and digital effects as well software programming and is understood and developed as a creator of space and interaction. The use of Artificial Intelligence/machine learning, ambisonic spatialization and the interaction with autonomous interactive music systems play a central role in his practice.

In his compositions he finds different ways of creating interactive spaces, integrating philosophical ideas into music composition and aesthetic system design. From the interplay of these partners an aesthetic emerges that is based on the spontaneity of the performance and the setting of aesthetic action spaces alike.

His research revolves around questions of philosophy of music, epistemology, aesthetics, media theory, critical improvisation studies and cybernetics. It follows questions of the creation of identity and sense in interactions between humans and technology, investigates the philosophical implications of musical and intermedial practices.

He studied Jazzguitar, Soundart/Composition, Philosophy and German philology at the Friedrich-Wilhelms Universität Bonn and the Gutenberg-Universität Mainz. He was invited twice as a visiting scholar at Columbia University, New York City (2017-2018, 2019-2020), working with Prof. George E. Lewis. Currently he is pursuing his Ph.D. in Music at Columbia University in New York.